African famine spurs concerned students into action

Amid the ravages of famine in Malawi, school is still in, thanks to the support of Caritas Australia, a Catholic aid organisation. PICTURE: JERRY GALEA.

Class 8A at Gisborne Secondary College should feel confident about getting an A+ this semester - for effort at least.

The 21 students this week will start a special class project to raise money for the victims of the famine in southern Africa.

After stories about the famine appeared in The Age, the year 8 students decided to help.

"They were shocked by it, and they were especially moved by stories about children their own age," said teacher Jon Morley. "I said to them: 'Let's do something about it', and they said 'yes'."

The class formed a student action group to raise awareness about the food crisis, and to organise fund-raising activities such as cake stalls, sausage sizzles and casual clothes days.");document.write("

advertisement

");
}
}
// -->

Emma Taylor, 13, said reading about the struggle of young people in particular had made the class realise how serious the situation was.

"Some families don't have any parents, and there was a girl who was 18 and had AIDS and had to look after her younger brothers and sisters with no help," Emma said. "I think we tried to imagine if it was us, what it would be like, and it made us realise that we couldn't do it by ourselves, so it must be really hard for them."

Classmate Hannah Stapleton, 13, said the motto of the campaign was "put in", and urged everybody to help.

"Don't just sit there, get up and do something about it because just a dollar of your money isn't much, but to them it will give them a meal," Hannah said.

"If everyone donated a small amount of money, that's a whole lot of money for them to save a whole lot of lives."

Huntingtower School in Mount Waverley will stage a fun run on Sunday to raise money for famine relief. To take part, call the school on 9807 8888.